International Seminar of Young Tibetologists

在AHRC研究工作坊计划的支持下，我建议召开国际青年藏学家研讨会(ISYT)的第一次会议，并为其作为一个可持续发展的国际研究协会奠定基础。在藏学研究领域，这次会议和ISYT的成立恰逢其时。通过为早期研究人员和研究生提供一个合作和交流的场所，ISYT满足了藏学研究的一个关键需求。藏学研究是一个不断增长的学术领域。传统上是考证学者和佛教学者的专属领域，最近这一领域的形状发生了变化。这在很大程度上要归功于中国在20世纪80年代末向外界开放西藏，这使得研究人员有可能将更多的人类学、文化和经济学方法应用于西藏研究。随之而来的是对藏语口语知识的更大重视，以及与藏族合作者和告密者的合作。与这些发展相一致的是，该领域首屈一指的研究协会--国际藏学研究协会(IATS)从大约30名学者成长为一个拥有数百名成员的庞大的国际研究协会。结果是双重的：首先，每三年举行一次的IATS研讨会现在大幅超额认购；其次，老一辈学者和年轻一代之间出现了代沟，他们的工作必然是以文本为基础的，而年轻一代倾向于对西藏和中国进行广泛的研究，并往往关注更当代的问题。ISYT不仅将解决这些问题，它还将创建一个可持续的研究网络，与IATS相辅相成。通过召开一次专门针对早期职业研究人员和研究生的会议，ISYT将显著缓解IATS研讨会目前因超额订阅而面临的压力。更重要的是，它将为年轻一代的藏学研究人员提供一个新的、独立的平台，分享他们的研究成果，并与志同道合的学者建立联系。ISYT的第一次会议将于2007年8月2-6日在牛津大学沃尔夫森学院举行。2006年8月下旬，在波恩举行的IATS第11次研讨会上，我在研究生和早期研究人员的一次会议上提出了这个地点，并获得了一致批准。这不仅是因为它相对于欧洲、西藏、中国和北美学者的中心位置，还因为牛津是藏学研究的主要中心，拥有十几名从事西藏相关研究的研究生。为了方便现有非正式成员之间就ISYT会议进行沟通，并发布关于会议的公告，网页设计师将创建ISYT网页。虽然这个网站首先将促进会议的组织，并将用于管理所有提交的摘要，但它也打算成为第一届国际空间年会议与第二届国际空间年会议之间的桥梁。会议本身除了作为学术交流的场所外，还将举办会议，与会者将在会上起草国际空间年的管理原则，以确保其作为一个研究网络的可行性。其目的是让国际空间年学会松散地隶属于国际航空运输协会，并在国际空间年学会研讨会没有举行的那些年召开会议。国际空间年学会还将为年轻一代的学者提供在会议记录中发表他们的工作的机会。此外，ISTY成员将作为卷编辑和同行审查员参与出版进程。这将进一步激发成员之间的合议气氛，并加强ISYT作为一个研究协会的作用。

With AHRC Research Workshops Scheme support, I propose to convene the first conference of the International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT), and lay its foundations as a sustainable international research association. This conference, and the creation of the ISYT, comes at a particularly opportune moment in the field of Tibetan studies. By providing a venue for collaboration and exchange for early-career researchers and postgraduate students, the ISYT addresses a crucial need in Tibetan studies.Tibetan studies is a growing academic field. Traditionally the preserve of textual scholars and scholars of Buddhism, the shape of the field has recently changed. This is due in large part to China's opening of Tibet to outsiders in the late 1980s, which made it possible to for researchers apply more anthropological, cultural and economic approaches to Tibetan studies. With this access came a greater emphasis on knowledge of spoken Tibetan, and co-operation with Tibetan collaborators and informants. In concert with these developments, the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS), the field's premier research association, grew up from a group of thirty or so scholars to become a massive international research association with hundreds of members.The result is twofold: firstly, the IATS Seminars, held every three years, are now massively oversubscribed; and secondly, a generation gap has emerged between the older generation of scholars, whose work was necessarily text-based, and the younger generation, who tend to research extensively in Tibet and China and often focus on more contemporary issues. Not only will the ISYT address these problems, it will create a sustainable research network that will complement the IATS.By convening a conference specifically intended for early-career researchers and postgraduate students, the ISYT will significantly relieve the pressure the IATS Seminars now face due to oversubscription. More importantly, it will offer the younger generation of Tibetan studies researchers a novel, independent platform for sharing their research and networking with like-minded scholars.The first conference of the ISYT will be convened 2-6 August 2007 at Wolfson College, Oxford. I proposed this location at a meeting of postgraduates and early-career researchers at the 11th Seminar of the IATS in Bonn in late August 2006, where it was met with unanimous approval. This is due not only to its central location relative to European, Tibetan, Chinese and North American scholars, but also to Oxford's status as a major centre for Tibetan studies with over a dozen postgraduates engaged in Tibet-related research.To facilitate communication about the ISYT conference between the informal membership that already exists, and to post announcements regarding the conference, a web-designer will create an ISYT webpage. While in the first instance this site will facilitate conference organisation and will be used to manage all submitted abstracts, it is intended also to serve as a bridge from the first ISYT conference to the second. To this end, it will be augmented as an interactive website where ISYT members can post information about their research.The conference itself, apart from serving as a venue for academic exchange, will also host meetings in which participants will draw up governing principles for the ISYT in order to ensure its viability as a research network. The intention is for the ISYT to be loosely affiliated with the IATS, and to convene conferences in those years when the IATS Seminar is not held.The ISYT will also offer the younger generation of scholars the opportunity to have their work published in the conference proceedings. In addition, ISTY members will be involved in the publication process as volume editors and peer reviewers. This will further stimulate a collegial atmosphere among members and strengthen the ISYTas a research association.